Help Me Understand Micromobility

[Fmc]

in a country that keeps building more interstates than bike lanes and mass transit, what is the future for micromobility? is the goal to get cars off the road, people out of mass transit, or just something fun to get around? E-bikes/scooters for now provide transportation faster than walking or riding but otherwise it has not replaced my modes of transportation. Or is this similar to the r3 and more of a European/non-us story? And yes i live in a town of 100k with no bike lanes and laughable mass transit.
like most i did not need a 800+hp quad ev but i have one and i do not need an ebike but will probably end up with one anyways.

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[Hereforthesnacks]

I hereby award you with the most random post of the week award. And it’s only Sunday.

 

[thrill]

As RJ likes to talk about, and correctly IMO, we need to generate desirable options for people, which is generally proven by looking at the flip side in that when we remove options then we seem to optimize for misery (think of gas stations [and attendant traffic] on every corner, spread out businesses with acres of asphalt, school traffic blocking roads for hours daily, etc). The petroleum industry is 70% used for transportation, and that’s with 7% of the industry being subsidised, with the US alone spending nearly a trillion dollars a year on direct and indirect subisides for oil companies, which leads me to conclude there’s absolutely no need to subsidize an industry that’s enjoying a captured market, and that money could be better spent helping create those desirable options.

Here, Rivian (via ALSO) is trying to create a desirable (one that it performs well and is flexible) option, regardless of the presently poor infrastructure supporting bikes in most of the country. There’s a lot of urban areas and modern neighborhoods where it could work well enough. The vehicle looks primed for use outside the US too, save the price “(gasp) for a bicycle!”. But, it’s the kind of thing where someone could budget for it and enjoy a nice ride for $5K versus a $50K car. I was reading some places such as Hanoi, which has 7 million registered motorbikes, is going to rapidly move within five years to electric two wheelers of various types.

 

[Hereforthesnacks]

Would be in favor of fully investing in the last mile issue. When it comes to bikes though, the Bay Area has gone crazy. Bike lanes take up a third of the road. Cones to protect bike lanes prevent you from making safe turns. On some streets, you can’t even make a right on red to exit a major street anymore, bringing traffic to a complete halt.

So while I think we need to invest in this, you can’t do it in a way where it gives the finger to people just trying to commute. With no exaggeration, it takes 30+ minutes to cross 2 miles of Palo Alto during rush hour in a car. That’s 2 miles of a suburb. Everyone on the road is in rage mode. Not safe…

 

[elatrickWheels]

It’s precisely about the absurdity of using an enormous vehicle to drive a single person for a relatively short journey (perhaps 1/2 mile - 3 miles) in reasonable weather without too much of a load to carry. Traffic, parking, noise, energy, pollution… Bicycles are great, but not everyone is comfortable arriving sweaty, carrying a load of groceries can be difficult, and bicycle theft is a real issue. That’s the market, and those are the issues, that ALSO is trying to address. I don’t love the look, yet, and I do like riding my bike, but that’s my take.

 

[Fmc]

Sadly america has prioritized widening roads in an attempt to relieve traffic congestion. I personally drive 2 miles to work. 90% of the time I should ride a bike. However there are no safe bike routes to make this happen. Hopefully municipalities will support more efforts for micromobility

 

[iansriv]

Sadly america has prioritized widening roads in an attempt to relieve traffic congestion. I personally drive 2 miles to work. 90% of the time I should ride a bike. However there are no safe bike routes to make this happen. Hopefully municipalities will support more efforts for micromobility

My commute is about 5 miles round trip. Roads are not very bike friendly but I try to bike on good weather days. It's 2025. Not sure when cities will start supporting different modes of transportation such as bikes.

 

[usulio]

Would be in favor of fully investing in the last mile issue. When it comes to bikes though, the Bay Area has gone crazy. Bike lanes take up a third of the road. Cones to protect bike lanes prevent you from making safe turns. On some streets, you can’t even make a right on red to exit a major street anymore, bringing traffic to a complete halt.

So while I think we need to invest in this, you can’t do it in a way where it gives the finger to people just trying to commute. With no exaggeration, it takes 30+ minutes to cross 2 miles of Palo Alto during rush hour in a car. That’s 2 miles of a suburb. Everyone on the road is in rage mode. Not safe…

I doubt bike lanes are the main cause of this traffic or that getting rid of them would solve it in any way. On the other hand, you now have the option to bike safely. Also, the more other people bike, the less car traffic you have to compete with.

Anyway, I guess some of this “micromobility” stuff is companies figuring out how small you can make an electric vehicle and people will still let you drive it in the bike lane. Ok, maybe add pedals for show.

 

[hudesigns]

For every new or renovated major road project, it should require a separate bike or micromobility lane to be built along side, much like requirement for road shoulder. Until federal and local government put the mandate into law, e-bike or bike in general will not be part of meaningful daily commute transport in this country.

 

[Hereforthesnacks]

I doubt bike lanes are the main cause of this traffic or that getting rid of them would solve it in any way. On the other hand, you now have the option to bike safely. Also, the more other people bike, the less car traffic you have to compete with.

Anyway, I guess some of this “micromobility” stuff is companies figuring out how small you can make an electric vehicle and people will still let you drive it in the bike lane. Ok, maybe add pedals for show.

The bike lines are definitively the cause of traffic. How do we know? There were no blocked off bike lanes until 1 month ago. In the past month, travel has slowed to a crawl. It’s one of the rare controlled traffic experiments we have data on.

 

[Nixapatfan]

I think it really depends on where you live and weather conditions. If you live in a warm sunny densely packed city year round then I can see it working.

If you live in a mostly rural area with variable weather conditions like I do then micromobility isn't really feasible unless you are a die hard anti-car person or can't afford to own one. Nothing is really close by and hardly a day goes by where the weather is great for the entire day so if you don't mind cold mornings, blazing hot afternoons and rain showers in the evening and freezing cold winters then biking may work for you but for the majority all these hardships are not what people are willing to put up with all year.

These are the same reasons why I rarely get to ride my motorcycle, mostly due to not wanting to be all sweaty and smelly before work or arrive soaking wet from a rainstorm.

 

[Erik+]

Based on my observations, micromobility in towns is a good excuse to leave electric scooters wherever you feel like, in peoples yards, tipped over in the middle of the road, tossed into the ditch, etc. I get the purpose, but many times it appears to just be kids playing and spending their parents money or intoxicated people having a laugh.

 

[savethemanual]

Looking at a global perspective....by 2050, approximately 68% of the world's population is projected to live in dense urban areas, which translates to about 6.4 billion people. This is a significant increase from just over half of the population living in cities today, representing one of the most substantial demographic shifts in history. The United Nations expects that nearly 2.5 billion people will be added to urban populations by then, with the most significant growth occurring in India, China, and Nigeria.

Micro mobility is crucial for dense urban areas in addition to public transit.

 

[iansriv]

The Finns seemed to have figured out the weather bit.

A Scandinavian cycling story from Oulu, Finland

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